Shakti Sinha  is the head of Policy Research Group at the Bureau of Research in Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF). He is also the Chairperson of an upcoming think tank, South Asian Institute for Strategic Affairs (SAISA). He has a Masters in Public Policy from George Mason University, along with a Masters in Indian and Chinese history from Delhi University.

Mr. Sinha was a member of India’s higher civil service – the Indian Administrative Service – from 1979 to 2013. He has held positions in different capacities at the federal, provincial and local levels, including as Private Secretary to the former Prime Minister, Shri A.B. Vajpayee, as head of Delhi’s power utility, Finance Secretary in Delhi Provincial Government, and as Chief Secretary (Chief Executive) of the Andaman government, among others. Internationally, he has headed the United Nation’s governance & development team in Afghanistan (2006-09) coordinating donor support to the Afghan government, and was earlier a Senior Advisor to Executive Director on the World Bank board (2000-2004).

Having experience with various think tanks in India (Observer Research Foundation) and Singapore (Institute of South Asian Studies), Mr. Sinha has written many book chapters, working papers, briefs, columns etc on the political economy of India, Indian foreign policy & strategic affairs, Chinese economy and politics, and on Afghanistan, for global and Indian publications.

Presently, he is also a consultant on governance and civil service reform projects, including in Afghanistan, and continues to write and speak on strategic and policy analysis issues.